American foreign professional compares living in Bangkok to Taipei

I travel a lot, lived in many places in the US, Middle East & Asia. People always like to ask me what my favorite city is. I wish I had a simple answer since each city has its own charm and appeal.

Recently I lived in Bangkok for an extended period of time again before coming back to Taipei where I was asked “Do you like Taipei more than Bangkok?” I had to seriously contemplate this so I decided to score each city on a scale of 1 to 10 in 10 different sections.

First and foremost, cost of living (apartments):

While many consider Taipei to be “pretty cheap” internationally, I believe it has become rather expensive in recent years. “Expensive” is a relative term.
I prefer “value proposition” as a more correct comparison.

Take for example apartments. In the case of Taipei, living in Xinyi, Da’an or Neihu costs about double as similar areas in Bangkok around Thonglor, Sukhumvit and Lumpini Park. That is, for the same quality of place/location and amenities.

While “cheap” housing can be had in both cities, the sacrifices of quality, location and amenities will be significant. On the other end of the spectrum, ultra high-end apartments can be had in Bangkok just as easily as in Taipei and the service level…